PODCAST: Mike Southon on sales and intrapraneurship
Tools & Resources
Key learnings
- Mike Southon is the author of The Beermat Entrepreneur and has advised and spoken at events for companies like Barclays, RBS, Goldman Sachs, Microsoft, Accenture and Rolls Royce.
- An intrapreneur is an entrepreneur working within a large organisation who focuses on process innovation and business model disruption.
- You can increase sales by listening to your customer's needs and solving their problems with your products and services.
In this UMi podcast, we speak to serial entrepreneur, best-selling author, keynote speaker, sales consultant and university lecturer, Mike Southon. Co-author of business management book, The Beermat Entrepreneur, Mike started his career building his own IT training company in the 1980s before going on to advise a number of start-ups on how to build stronger teams and get better at selling their products and services. Now, he’s a lecturer in entrepreneurship at City, University of London and sharing his multi-decade experience of all things sales and business development with the next generation.
Listen below to find out more from Mike about:
- Setting up and selling his first IT training company in the 1980s.
- The importance of bringing the right skills into your business when you're expanding.
- The difference between an entrepreneur and an intrapreneur.
- Building and maintaining relationships with potential customers.
- The two types of salespeople - hunters and farmers.
- The fundamentals of business development - getting people to like you.
Next steps...
- Grab a copy of Mike's book, The Beermat Entrepreneur, and get in touch with him online.
- Watch Mike talk to the Museum of Entrepreneurship about his business journey and philosophy on sales.
- Check out our article on winning new customers.